Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has sent two diplomats to the airport to liase with the Malaysian authorities and assist the families.

Sources said the Kolekar family is from Mumbai, Sharma from Chennai, and Shirsath from Pune.

Five Indians, including three from a family, were among the 239 people on board the Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing on Saturday.

The Ministry of External Affairs said the five have been identified as Chetna Kolekar, 55, Swanand Kolekar, 23, Vinod Kolekar, 59, Chandrika Sharma, 51, and Kranti Shirsath, 44. An Indian-origin Canadian, Muktesh Mukherjee, was also on board the flight. Sources said the Kolekar family is from Mumbai, Sharma from Chennai, and Shirsath from Pune.

Sharma, executive secretary of the International Collective In Support of Fishworkers, was en route to Mongolia to attend an Asia Pacific regional conference organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

She originally hails from Haryana. She has been a resident of Chennai since 1993, having married a Tamil, said her colleague N Venugopal. Sharma and her husband K S Narendran have a daughter, Meghna, who studies in Delhi. Meanwhile, the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has sent two diplomats to the airport to liase with the Malaysian authorities and assist the families.